An example of an article transport vehicle which transports a transported article with the article suspended and supported thereby is disclosed in JP Publication of Application No. 2006-298535 (Patent Document 1). This article transport vehicle includes a travel member which travels along a travel path, a support unit which suspends and supports the transported article, and a vertical movement actuator which vertically moves the support unit with respect to the travel member. The support unit includes a vertically movable portion which is moved vertically by the vertical movement actuator, transported article support portions which supports a supported portion of the transported article, and a support actuator which moves the transported article support portions to support positions in which the transported article support portions are located directly below the supported portion and to retracted positions in which the transported article support portions are retracted from their positions directly below the supported portion. In addition, the support unit includes guiding supports which guide and support the transported article support portions such that the transported article support portions can be moved between the support positions and the retracted positions. And damper elements which are elastically deformable in the vertical direction are provided on the top surfaces of the transported article support portions.
The damper elements provided to the top surfaces of the transported article support portions receive the load of the supported transported article. In other words, in the article transport vehicle of Patent Document 1, transmission of vibration to the transported article, during a travel of the travel member or during a vertical movement of the vertically movable portion, is reduced by interposing the damper elements between the transported article support portions and the supported portion of the transported article. However, the thickness, or the vertical dimension, of the transported article support portions increases by providing such damper elements on the top surfaces of the transported article support portions. Thus, it becomes more likely for the transported article support portions to interfere with the supported portion of the transported article when the transported article support portions are moved from the retracted positions to the support positions in order to support the supported portion of the transported article with the transported article support portions.